In general, bacterial pathogens are classified as either Gram-positive or Gram-negative. Many antibacterial agents (including antibiotics) are specific against one or other Gram-class of pathogens. Antibacterial agents effective against both Gram-positive and Gram-negative pathogens are therefore generally regarded as having broad spectrum activity.
Many classes of antibacterial agents are known, including the penicillins and cephalosporins, tetracyclines, sulfonamides, monobactams, fluoroquinolones and quinolones, aminoglycosides, glycopeptides, macrolides, polymyxins, lincosamides, trimethoprim and chloramphenicol. The fundamental mechanisms of action of these antibacterial classes vary.
Bacterial resistance to many known antibacterials is a growing problem. Accordingly there is a continuing need in the art for alternative antibacterial agents, especially those which have mechanisms of action fundamentally different from the known classes.
Amongst the Gram-positive pathogens, such as Staphylococci, Streptococci, Mycobacteria and Enterococci, resistant strains have evolved/arisen which makes them particularly difficult to eradicate. Examples of such strains are methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), methicillin resistant coagulase negative Staphylococci (MRCNS), penicillin, quinolone or macrolide resistant Streptococcus pneumoniae and multiply resistant Enterococcus faecium. 
Pathogenic bacteria are often resistant to the aminoglycoside, β-lactam (penicillins and cephalosporins), macrolide, quinolone and chloramphenicol types of antibiotic. The mechanism of resistance can involve the enzymatic inactivation of the antibiotic by hydrolysis, formation of inactive derivatives, mutation of the molecular target and/or activation of transport pumps. The β-lactam (penicillin and cephalosporin) family of antibiotics are characterised by the presence of a β-lactam ring structure. Resistance to this family of antibiotics in clinical isolates is most commonly due to the production of a “penicillinase” (β-lactamase) enzyme by the resistant bacterium which hydrolyses the β-lactam ring thus eliminating its antibacterial activity.
Recently there has been an emergence of vancomycin-resistant strains of enterococci (Woodford N. 1998 Glycopeptide-resistant enterococci: a decade of experience. Journal of Medical Microbiology. 47(10):849-62). Vancomycin-resistant enterococci are particularly hazardous in that they are frequent causes of hospital based infections and are inherently resistant to most antibiotics. Vancomycin works by binding to the terminal D-Ala-D-Ala residues of the cell wall peptidoglycan precursor. The high-level resistance to vancomycin is known as VanA and is conferred by genes located on a transposable element which alter the terminal residues to D-Ala-D-lac thus reducing the affinity for vancomycin.
In view of the rapid emergence of multidrug-resistant bacteria, the development of antibacterial agents with novel modes of action that are effective against the growing number of resistant bacteria, particularly the vancomycin resistant enterococci and βlactam antibiotic-resistant bacteria, such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, is of utmost importance.